Knowledge and Knowing:

Mātauranga, Mōhiotanga, Māramatanga

There are a number of Māori terms concerning knowledge and knowing. The following descriptions provide a basis the nature of knowledge and knowing from the traditional Māori point of view.

• Mātauranga
• Mōhiotanga
• Māramatanga

Mātauranga

Whilst mātauranga Māori is being used today as a title for a continuum of knowledge, the word mātauranga itself can be considered more directly as a perspective on the nature of knowledge. On the whole, mātauranga can be used to refer to that type of knowledge that is passed, exchanged and transferred between people. For example, the words that one utters to explain something, is a type of knowledge passed from one person (the speaker) to another (the listener). We would refer to this type of knowledge as mātauranga. An expression concerning this type of knowledge says:

He taonga whakawhitiwhiti i waenganui i te hunga tangata.
An entity that moves between people.

In traditional times, knowledge was also referred to as a nourishment (kai), something that was fed (whāngai) from one person to another. The perspective of knowledge as a food is reflected in numerous places in traditional literature such as proverbs (whakataukī) and other expressions. For example, the following proverb is widely used:

Ko te manu e kai ana i te hua o te ngahere
Nōna te ngahere
Ko te manu e kai ana i te hua o te mātauranga
Nōna te ao.

The bird who partakes of the fruit of the tree
Theirs is the forest
The bird who partakes of the fruit of knowledge
Theirs is the world.

Mōhiotanga

Mōhiotanga can be viewed as ‘internalised knowing’, one that does not require an exchange (of knowledge) to be present in one’s consciousness. The typical example of this kind of ‘knowing’ is the knowledge of the new-born child to suckle at his/her mother’s breast. In most cases, a child is not taught to suckle, but rather and somehow the child knows what to do.

Examples of ‘mōhiotanga’ can be found throughout the natural world. For example, the movement of a leaf toward the rays of the sun, the knowledge of a bird to build a nest, the ‘brace’ of the body when one is struck with fear and so on. These are all aspects or features of ‘knowing’ that do not require the deliberate transfer of knowledge from one to another. ‘Mōhiotanga’ is generally used to stand for this kind of knowing.

Māramatanga

The third kind of ‘knowing’ and ‘knowledge’ considered is māramatanga which can be literally translated as ‘illumination’. Māramatanga, hence, is connected with degrees of understanding (mārama). One might think of a spectrum of understanding where one end of the spectrum indicates no understanding and illumination. The other end of the spectrum is distinguished by great illumination and knowledge.

Our usual experience of māramatanga occurs on an everyday basis in such activities as conversation. Here we speak with one another and thereby pass mātauranga between each other. However, with respect to māramatanga, it is up to the person who is receiving the knowledge as to whether they understand or not. Hence, māramatanga is that quality and experience of understanding that takes place inside a person when they have received certain knowledge. Curiously, however, māramatanga does not arise solely through the arrival of mātauranga (knowledge) alone to the person. Some rather mysterious alchemy takes place inside a person which transforms what they have heard (mātauranga) into understanding (māramatanga).

From the traditional Māori worldview, it might be argued that māramatanga is the highest form of knowledge and knowing. Such a notion is based upon tribal creation traditions which speak of the rise of Te Ao Mārama or ‘the world of light and illumination’. Hence, the ubiquitous oratorical phrase used on marae throughout the country:

Tihē mauriora
Ki Te Whaiao
Ki Te Ao Mārama!

The breath and vital energy of life
To the Dawnlight
To the World of Light of Illumination!

credit:

The following paragraphs contain descriptions of three terms based upon research by Dr Charles Royal (Te Ahukaramū) of Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngā Puhi. Charles spent seven years convening a masters degree in Mātauranga Māori at Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa in Ōtaki.